Contributor: Jordan Wilkens
On Tuesday, April 12th, folk-rock band Mt. Joy performed at The Ritz in Raleigh with their opener Flipturn. Mt. Joy is about to release and tour their third album “Orange Blood,” but this concert was a combined tour for their self-titled album and their second album “Rearrange Us.”
Flipturn started their performance at 8 pm with an energetic set and vibrant stage presence. I’ve been a long-time fan of the pop-rock band, so I was just as excited for their performance as Mt. Joy’s. My friends and I were in the very front middle, but unfortunately, this made it practically impossible to hear the vocals. The instrumentals made up for it and they had a great show anyway. My favorite part of their performance was their opening number “Something You Needed.”
After Flipturn had successfully warmed up the audience, Mt. Joy came on at 9:15 pm and opened with their popular song “I’m Your Wreck.” They had fixed the audio issue and we could easily hear the voice of lead singer Matt Quinn! Their set consisted of a mix of top hits like “Sheep,” and fan favorites such as “Dirty Love.” The most memorable moments were pianist Jackie Miclau’s beautiful interlude and guitarist Sam Cooper’s electric solo. The best part of the show was easily the closer “Julia,” which was extended to include covers of “Ain’t No Sunshine” by Bill Withers and “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley. It was clear that everyone in the crowd was a devoted fan and enjoyed the concert because not a single person left without a smile on their face.
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